From db30 at andrew.cmu.edu Wed Jun 1 15:14:32 2016 From: db30 at andrew.cmu.edu (db30 at andrew.cmu.edu) Date: Wed, 01 Jun 2016 15:14:32 -0400 Subject: [ACT-R-users] New ACT-R software release available Message-ID: <8E013E4052D151A08681004D@actr6b.cmu.edu> A new version of the ACT-R 7 software is now available from the ACT-R website: . The current version is now 7.0.8-<2015:2016-06-01>. A few of the significant changes will be noted here, and you can check the commit log at for information on all of the other changes. There are now major and minor version numbers associated with the software instead of just relying on the repository version numbering. Details on when the version numbers are changed can be found in the reference manual. A new parameter for productions is available through spp called :fixed-utility. If that parameter is set to t for a production then the utility of that production will not be changed by the utility learning mechanism, but it can still be changed explicitly using spp. In order to make using the extras easier the command require-extra has been added. It takes one parameter which is a string that names the directory in /extras that contains an extension that should be loaded. If that extra has not been previously loaded then it will compile and load it e.g. (require-extra "blending"). The intended use of this is to put it into any model file that uses an extra so that other people can load and run that model without having to first load any other files necessary. Reworked how the "history" tools in the Environment operate. Instead of each being an independent tool which set its own trace flag(s) and may or may not have had a save option, now there are only two buttons on the Control Panel. One opens a recorder which lets one pick which trace information and buffers to save the data from in the current model, and it has a button which will save all of the currently recorded information from a model run to a file. The other button opens a playback window which contains buttons for all of the available history viewing tools, and it allows one to pick either the current model or a saved data file to use as the source of the information. If you have any questions or problems with the new version please let me know. Dan From fer2 at psu.edu Sun Jun 5 18:59:18 2016 From: fer2 at psu.edu (Frank Ritter) Date: Sun, 5 Jun 2016 18:59:18 -0400 Subject: [ACT-R-users] CogModel notes: ICCM16/BICA16/travel support/Post-docs Message-ID: <651859.PALMKRVE@psu.edu> The ICCM 2016 announcements drive this email (it will be at Penn State, 3-6 Aug 2016, still hope you can come!). * We have student travel support for US students (please apply!) * We have our tutorial program up * Early registration is due 6 July 2016 There are also several timely announcements in this issue about BICA 2016, post-docs (3 in our lab), and fellowships. Also note that our college will be hiring in the fall in HCI and security at least. If you would like to be removed, please just let me know. I maintain it by hand to keep it small. [Hypertext version available at http://acs.ist.psu.edu/iccm2016/iccm-mailing-jun2016.html **************** Table of Contents **************** 1. ICCM Student travel stipends (10 places) http://acs.ist.psu.edu/iccm2016/stipend-application 2. ICCM 2016 registration is open http://acs.ist.psu.edu/iccm2016/registration 3. ICCM 2016 Tutorial program http://acs.ist.psu.edu/iccm2016/tutorials 4. BICA 2016 Late Breaking abstracts, due 10 Jun 16 http://bica2016.bicasociety.org 5. Fellowship to IITSEC conference, Dec 2016, due 20 Jun 16 http://www.iitsec.org/education/studentsandteachers 6. Symposium on Multitasking, 23 Jun 16, Gronigen, NL http://www.iccm2015.org/multitask ** Jobs ** 7. Postdocs in cognitive tutors, PSU https://psu.jobs/job/63941 (1 starts Aug16 and one Dec16) 8. Postdoc in linguistics and computational social science, PSU https://psu.jobs/job/58861 9. CIFAR grant for young faculty http://www.cifar.ca/global-scholars 10. 2 year post-doc fellowship + TT appointment, Carleton U 11. Post-doc grant writing opportunity at ARL http://sites.nationalacademies.org/pga/rap **************************************************************** 1. ICCM Student travel stipends (10 places) http://acs.ist.psu.edu/iccm2016/stipend-application Student travel stipends are available! You can learn more and apply here. http://acs.ist.psu.edu/iccm2016/stipend-application Applicants need to be at a US university or be US citizens. These are sponsored by NSF. We still have some room. **************************************************************** 2. ICCM 2016 registration is open http://acs.ist.psu.edu/iccm2016/registration Registration is open. Early registration due 6 Jul 16 http://acs.ist.psu.edu/iccm2016/registration **************************************************************** 3. ICCM 2016 Tutorial program http://acs.ist.psu.edu/iccm2016/tutorials The ICCM 2016 tutorial program is available at http://acs.ist.psu.edu/iccm2016/tutorials T1: Stream: A Toolkit for Developing High-Precision Experiments T2: ACT-R Phi - ACT-R and a Physiological Model T3: Distributed Adaptive Control: A Theory of the Mind, Brain, Body Nexus T4: Tools for Cognitive Modeling: tasks for universal access, exploring parameter spaces, analyzing the persuasiveness of the best-found fit ---------------- Tutorial 1: 9-1230 Stream: A Toolkit for Developing High-Precision Experiments Brad Wyble - Assistant Prof of Psychology, PSU (http://wyblelab.com) Gregory Wade - PhD Student, U of Deleware Creating behavioral experiments with carefully rendered stimuli and highly precise timing requires a specialized style of programming that interacts directly with computer hardware, including keyboard, and sound and video drivers. To facilitate the development of such experiments, we have created the Stream Toolkit, a freely available toolkit that builds on Matlab and Psychtoolbox to allow rapid development of high-precision experimental procedures that involve multiple modalities (e.g. visual, auditory and parallel-port output; keyboard, eye tracking, & mouse input). The toolkit allows users to assemble an experimental procedure by preloading stimuli and then using events to control their timing with high precision. During the experiment itself, all stimuli and responses are recorded with timestamps at the ms level and stored in a data structure that ensures no information will be lost. For novice programmers, Stream provides a framework that is familiar to behavioral scientists and is a good way to extend programming skills. For advanced programmers, Stream accelerates the development of complex experiments (e.g. involving eye tracking, EEG, and realtime, user-responsive stimuli). Attendees will be introduced to Stream through tutorials that guide them through experimental procedures with open-ended exercises. In the afternoon attendees will be invited to create experiments of their own design, with hands-on guidance and troubleshooting from Stream's designers. ---------------- Tutorial 2: 9-1230 ACT-R Phi - ACT-R and a Physiological Model Chris Dancy - Assistant Prof, Bucknell (www.bucknell.edu/x105042.xml) W Andrew Pruett - Instructor, U of Mississippi Medical Center The mind is embodied, physically and chemically, receiving and passing information to the body in myriad physiological feedback loops. The mind-body interface induces connections between different cognitive functions, and is an integral part of cognition. Understanding how physiological and cognitive mechanisms interact to result in behavior will need to involve exploring the representative and systematic ways we can connect systems on the physiological and cognitive levels. As physiological sensors continue to become cheaper, more pervasive, and more accurate, computational cognitive modelers will have a unique opportunity to predict and explain human behavior using process models with representations on both the physiological and cognitive levels. This shift will result in models that more realistically operate over longer periods of time, allowing modelers access to more mechanistic models and predictions of behaviors given moderators like sleep deprivation, caffeine, or stress. In the first hour, we will discuss physiological and cognitive processes, and interactions between systems at these levels, that are useful for modeling and simulating behavior on both the physiological and cognitive levels. We will use two representative systems (HumMod and ACT-R) as well as an integrated version of the two systems (ACT-R/Phi) to ground the discussed connections and interactions to a computational system. Tutees will then have two hours to build a hybrid computational physio-cognitive model, run the model in a simulated experiment, and interpret the predicted physiological and cognitive output against existing behavioral data. ---------------- Tutorial 3: 14-1730 Distributed Adaptive Control: A Theory of the Mind, Brain, Body Nexus Paul Verschure - U Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona http://specs.upf.edu/people/paul-fmj-verschure This tutorial introduces the Distributed Adaptive Control (DAC), a theory of the design principles underlying the Mind, Brain, Body Nexus (MBBN) that has been developed over the last 20 years. DAC assumes that the brain maintains stability between an embodied agent, its internal state and its environment through action. It postulates that in order to act, or know how, the brain has to answer 5 fundamental questions: why, what, where, when and who? Thus the function of the brain is to continuously solve the so-called H5W problem with H standing for the How an agent acts in the world. The DAC theory is expressed as a neural-based architecture implemented in robots and organized in two complementary structures: layers and columns. The organizational layers are called: reactive, adaptive and contextual, and its columnar organization defines the processing of states of the world, the self and the generation of action. DAC has been shown to be both rational in a Bayesian sense while epistemically autonomous. In addition, it has been mapped to the main brain structures in an effort to validate its specific predictions. After an overview of the key elements of DAC, the mapping of its key assumptions towards the invertebrate and mammalian brain is described. The general overview of DAC's explanation of MBBN is combined with examples of application scenarios in which DAC has been validated, including mobile and humanoid robots, neuro-rehabilitation and the large-scale interactive space Ada. In this tutorial we will provide the elements necessary to implement an autonomous control system based on the DAC architecture and we will explore how the different layers of DAC contribute to solve a foraging task. ---------------- Tutorial 4: 14-1730 Tools for Cognitive Modeling: Developing tasks for universal access by models and human participants, exploring a massive parameter space to find the best fit of model to data, and analyzing the persuasiveness of the best-found fit. Vladislav "Dan" Veksler - ARO The aim of this tutorial is to walk participants through much of the cognitive modeling research cycle, from experiment/simulation development, to parameter exploration for finding the best fit of model predictions to empirical results, to determining the persuasiveness of the found fit (vis-a-vis Roberts & Pashler, "How persuasive is a good fit?"). This tutorial will provide hands-on experience with (1) STAP -- a technology that enables reuse of task software for human participants in lab, online, and on mobile devices, and computational participants regardless of computational framework and programming language; (2) mindmodeling.org -- a free online parallel computing resource for exploring large parameter spaces; and (3) Model Flexibility Analysis -- a method for estimating model complexity/flexibility. **************************************************************** 4. BICA 2016 Late Breaking abstracts, due 10 Jun 16 http://bica2016.bicasociety.org The BICA 2016 (http://bica2016.bicasociety.org) still needs more papers/participants (abstracts are OK), and the current deadline is 10 Jun. It will be held in NYC. **************************************************************** 5. Fellowship to IITSEC conference, Dec 2016, due 20 Jun 16 http://www.iitsec.org/education/studentsandteachers By way of introduction, my name is Brent Smith and I am the Chair for the RADM Fred Lewis Postgraduate Scholarship program. This is our 26th year in providing these scholarships as part of the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC). I/ITSEC is one of the largest and most respected conferences on modeling, simulation, and educational technologies. Scholarships are offered at a Master level in the amount $5k, and at a Doctoral level in the amount of $10k. The scholarships are offered to stimulate student interest and university participation in preparing individuals for leadership in the Modeling & Simulation, Training and Education communities. By investing in our future workforce, the RADM Fred Lewis Scholarships encourage expansion of the I/ITSEC community and promote innovation through direct investment in our community's future leaders. The scholarship recipient(s) will attend I/ITSEC '16 (28 Nov - 2 Dec 16) at the expense of the I/ITSEC organization, where he or she will be recognized, view the latest in simulation, training and education technologies and meet leading figures from Government, Industry and Academia associated with this community. Please help me pass the word to your student body, as we like to have a diverse pool of candidates from which to choose. All pertinent application information can be found at . The deadline for applications this year is 20 Jun and awardees will be notified by 5 Aug. Funds will be made available in time for the fall term. Thank you for your support. If there is any additional information desired, feel free to contact me directly. Sincerely, Brent Smith I/ITSEC 2016 Scholarship Chair Engineering & Computer Simulations 11825 High Tech Ave., Suite 250 Orlando FL 32817 Office: (407) 823-9991 x305 | Cell: (407) 497-7340 brents at ecsorl.com | www.iitsec.org **************************************************************** 6. Symposium on Multitasking, 23 Jun 16, Gronigen, NL http://www.iccm2015.org/multitask We would like to invite you to join our symposium on Multitasking here in Groningen, NL, on 23 Jun 16. Multitasking becomes ever more pervasive in everyday life. It is therefore important to have a better understanding of how the human brain processes multiple tasks. This can help us predict whether any given combination of tasks go well together. Furthermore it is important to know the nature of choice in multitasking: when do people choose to take on a secondary task, or decide to switch from one task to another. A better understanding can help to improve human-computer interaction, and to make people aware of how they can improve their own multitasking. The symposium features a series of talks by international experts in the field and will be concluded with a panel-discussion around the question of what we have learned from research on multitasking and interruptions so far. Registration is free and open until 16 Jun. For more information go to http://www.iccm2015.org/multitask or send an email to S.K.Mehlhorn at rug.nl. We are looking forward to seeing you at the symposium! Katja Mehlhorn & Niels Taatgen **************************************************************** 7. Postdocs in cognitive tutors, PSU https://psu.jobs/job/63941 (1 position Aug16 and one Dec16) [One is funding in hand, one is selected but not yet funded-fer] A postdoctoral scholar position is available in the College of IST at PSU. This position will build tutors (http://acs.ist.psu.edu/d2p) to understand learning about maintenance and other procedural skills. The applicant should have, or be scheduled to complete, a PhD in psychology, CS, IE, or a related field by the time the employment starts. Candidates should have technical skills to maintain and extend the tutoring system in Ruby and an interest in learning theory and modeling. Programming skills include: Ruby, Java, Lisp, ACT-R, r or related languages. Relevant knowledge include how to run studies, statistical analyses (regression preferred over anova), and writing. The work would include extending and maintaining a tutoring language and associated tutors, helping to build new tutors, testing the tutors through usability and learning studies, and presenting the results in a variety of forms. Postdoctoral scholar appointments are full-time, 12-month, non-tenure positions, with 2-3 years renewal dependent upon performance and funds availability. To apply, electronically submit a cover letter describing qualifications, a CV and contact information from three professional references. Review of applicants is ongoing and the position will begin when a suitable candidate is selected. Queries to frank.ritter at psu.edu. Please let me know when you apply. **************************************************************** 8. Postdoc in linguistics and computational social science, PSU https://psu.jobs/job/58861 Postdoc position @ Applied Cognitive Science Lab, College of Information Sciences and Technology, Penn State. We have begun new, NSF-funded research in the areas of linguistics and computational social science. Generally, we seek to model cognitive processes using large-scale datasets and experimentation. Our recent core contributions have been in psycholinguistic models of natural-language dialogue and in decision making. Our work in cognitive science is fueled by advances in computing. In turn, we translate progress in cognitive science to contributions in computer science. We are looking for a postdoc with training in one or more of the following areas: * cognitive science (e.g., computational psycholinguistics and data-driven modeling), * deep connectionist representations, and * natural language processing and information retrieval. While the successful applicant is likely to focus on some areas, strong practical computational skills and a research interest in cognition or linguistics are required. Duties will include contributing to a project that combines crowd-sourcing and natural language processing to curate a dataset for peace research. Beyond that, the post-doc is primarily expected to build a strong research agenda, but may also collaborate in the graduate students' projects and teach. The initial appointment would be for one year and is renewable. Applicants should have a PhD in a relevant area (or be in the final stages of obtaining one) and a strong record of publications. Please direct inquiries to David Reitter, reitter at psu.edu. Job ad and formal applications (after contact by e-mail): https://psu.jobs/job/58861 **************************************************************** 9. CIFAR grant for young faculty http://www.cifar.ca/global-scholars [closed, but recurring, next call, Winter 2017] Subject: Connectionists: CIFAR grant for young faculty CIFAR invites outstanding early-career researchers to join one of nine research programs which address some of the most complex challenges facing the world today. The CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars program provides funding and support to help you build your research network and develop essential skills at this important time in your career. As a CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar, you'll receive: A two-year appointment to a CIFAR research program $100k CDN in undesignated research support Specialized leadership and communications training Scholars are appointed to a research program, becoming part of a global network of leading researchers pursuing answers to some of the most difficult challenges facing the world today. You'll forge new collaborations with mentors and colleagues from diverse disciplines. Experts will help you hone your leadership and communication skills to prepare you to be an influential leader within academia and beyond. For more information: http://www.cifar.ca/global-scholars -- Yoshua Bengio **************************************************************** 10. 2 year post-doc fellowship + TT appointment, Carleton U 2 year post-doctoral fellowship ($70k/year) + tenure track appointment at Carleton U in Ottawa, Canada The Creative Interactions Lab in the School of Information Technology at Carleton U is interested in sponsoring an individual for a Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship. This is a highly competitive award, designed for candidates who are almost ready to apply for a Faculty position, to build capacity at the university. As such, Carleton will offer a tenure-track faculty position at the rank of Assistant Professor to successful Banting awardees after the 2 year term of the postdoctoral fellowship. The Creative Interactions Lab focuses on novel interactions techniques, specifically with deformable user interactions, with a recent focus on accessibility and health care. We are most interested in human computer interaction candidates who have expertise or interests in deformation interaction techniques, shape shifting, tangible user interfaces, health care and/or accessibility. The Banting fellowship is a 2 year position with an annual salary of $70k. Applications will be subject to an internal adjudication process before any application is forwarded. Deadlines - Initial expressions of interest: 20 Jun - Candidate name must be confirmed by: 30 Jun - Internal submission process (by invitation only): 13 Jul - Full application to the sponsor (by invitation only): 21 Sep Eligibility Applicants to the 2016-17 Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships program must fulfill or have fulfilled all degree requirements for a PhD between September 21, 2013 and September 30, 2017 (inclusively), and before the start date of their award. Canadian citizens, permanent residents of Canada and foreign citizens are eligible to apply. Note: although recent PhD graduates are eligible to apply, due to the competitive nature of the program, preference is given to candidates who have already held a postdoctoral fellowship. Applying Initial expressions of interest should be sent to Dr. Audrey Girouard at audrey.girouard at carleton.ca. Include your CV, a sentence stating your eligibility, a brief research statement outlining your research interests, and names and contact information of two senior academics willing to give more information. An email with CV attachment will suffice. **************************************************************** 11. Post-doc grant writing opportunity at ARL http://sites.nationalacademies.org/pga/rap I'm Dan Cassenti, a research psychologist with the U.S. Army Res Lab at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD. I recently discovered that there is a possible opening for a post-doctoral associate under my advisorship at ARL with either the National Research Council or Oak Ridge Associated Universities programs. For more information on the post-doctoral program, please see the following web site: http://sites.nationalacademies.org/pga/rap . The solicitations on this web site cover both the NRC and ORAU programs. The benefits include a competitive salary, moving expenses, health insurance options, and a travel budget. I am looking for candidates who have or are close to receiving a Ph.D. and have both empirical and computational modeling background in one or more of the following areas: executive function, decision making, knowledge representation, linguistics, mental workload, or working memory. The project (which will require a proposal for funding developed jointly with the candidate and myself) will involve the analysis of intelligence information for the generation of networks. Please contact me at daniel.n.cassenti.civ at mail.mil if you're interested. Also, if you know someone who could benefit from this note, please forward on. Thanks in advance for your help! **************************************************************** -30- If you have read this far, try out this new take of who's on 1st https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLE7zsJk4AI **************************************************************** From cl at cmu.edu Mon Jun 27 18:54:02 2016 From: cl at cmu.edu (Christian Lebiere) Date: Mon, 27 Jun 2016 18:54:02 -0400 Subject: [ACT-R-users] 2016 ACT-R Post-Graduate Summer School In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: A reminder that the early registration deadline for the ACT-R PGSS is this Friday. If you are planning to come please consider registering by then to help our planning. You should also contact the Cork Factory Hotel to reserve your room in order to take advantage of the group rate. If you have any question or request, don't hesitate to email me at cl at cmu.edu. Christian On Fri, May 20, 2016 at 4:40 PM, Christian Lebiere wrote: > This is the formal announcement of the 2016 ACT-R Post-Graduate Summer > School (PGSS), which will take place from August 7 to 9, 2016, after ICCM > (August 3 to 6) and before Cognitive Science (August 10 to 14). Since ICCM > takes place in State College, PA and the Cognitive Science meeting is in > Philadelphia, PA, the PGSS will take place in Lancaster, PA at the Cork > Factory Hotel . Room reservations > should be made by phone or email (not the web site) using the code "ACT-R" > to secure the meeting rate of $104/night. The preliminary PGSS schedule > is available on > the ACT-R web site, together with a registration > page. The PGSS > registration fee is $100 before July 1, and $125 afterwards. Because of the > need to take care of logistical details in a timely manner, please do your > best to register as soon as possible. > > For any questions or requests for a presentation, email me at cl at cmu.edu. > > Christian Lebiere > > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From norbou.buchler.civ at mail.mil Thu Jun 30 13:53:57 2016 From: norbou.buchler.civ at mail.mil (Buchler, Norbou CIV USARMY RDECOM ARL (US)) Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2016 17:53:57 +0000 Subject: [ACT-R-users] ARL Post-Doctoral Position (Human Dynamics of Cybersecurity) Message-ID: <404DB09FA2DD6140B030E200789CEC8793657154@ucolhpkn.easf.csd.disa.mil> ARL Post-Doctoral Opportunity in the Human Dynamics of Cybersecurity A postdoctoral scholar position is available in the Army Research Laboratory, Human Research & Engineering Directorate at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD. The applicant should have, or be scheduled to complete, a Ph.D. in computer science, cognitive science, psychology, or a related field by the time the employment starts. Candidates should have technical skills in learning theory and modeling. Programming skills include: Java, Python, ACT-R, R or related statistical programming languages. Relevant knowledge includes how to run studies, simulations, statistical analyses, and writing. The candidate must be a U.S. Citizen; Stipend is $75,000. Please see the attached flyer for more information. Sincerely, Norbou Norbou Buchler, PhD Cyber & Networked Systems, Team Lead Human Research & Engineering Directorate Army Research Laboratory Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005 (410)278-9403 -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: ARL PostDoc Human Dynamics of Cybersecurity.ppt Type: application/vnd.ms-powerpoint Size: 752640 bytes Desc: ARL PostDoc Human Dynamics of Cybersecurity.ppt URL: